The present invention relates to a computer-based website for bartering, exchanging or selling, (hereinafter referred to as bartering), real estate items or securities including, but not limited to, real property, stock, cash (foreign or domestic currencies), web barter dollars (defined below), Himmelstein Options (defined below), CD's, bonds, notes, Option Put, Option Call, Commodities/Futures, Annuities, Muni Bond(s), Government Bonds, Funds, Strips (Zero Coupon Treasuries), Ginnie Mae(s), Fannie Mae(s), Freddie Mac(s), UIT (Unit Investment Trust), T-bills and any future created or defined security, commodity or commodity money wherein a barter order indicating the item to barter and the desired barter item are matched by the website. Barter transactions are made which combine a barterer's barter order with a matching order or combination of orders which the barterer selects or the barterer has automatically selected by the website. All barter transactions incorporate agreements. Agreements, termed Himmelstein Options, permit barterers to agree to a future range of dates: a date after the barter transaction may occur and a date before the barter transaction must occur or the rights of ownership may expire. Himmelstein options also include other conditions or parameters in the agreement as well.
Automated computer systems matching buy and sell orders for trading stocks, futures and other properties are well known in the art. An example of such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,573,747 to Adams, et al., which discloses a system for matching buy and sell orders for fungible properties between traders. After the initial match, one embodiment of this system allows traders to negotiate other terms of the transaction while all traders are continuously appraised of the negotiation status. The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,287 to Braddock relates to trading stock and discloses a central computer that matches buy and sell orders from a plurality of user terminals. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,652 to Lupien, et al. a computer network with a plurality of trader terminals matches buy and sell orders incorporating a satisfaction density profile. The density profile provides a measure for maximizing the mutual satisfaction of all traders.
Computer systems to match bids and offers are also well known in the art. The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,201 to Wagner matches bids and offers for future commodity contracts and detects illegal trade practices. U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,165 to Ordish, et al., discloses a network system and further provides confirmation timing and notification messaging to the traders. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,082 to Silverman, et al., a negotiated matching system matches bids and offers based on a criteria that includes “ranking” data. The ranking data is comprised of credit and risk information to facilitate the best matches with respect to risk management. Another aspect of this same system permits traders to negotiate directly with each other prior to or after an initial match is made by the system. The system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,801 to Matsubara et al. also matches bids and offers, and in one embodiment, credit criteria is considered in the match.
Another computer system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,071 to Ferstenberg, et al. includes an intermediary computer program and an electronic agent computer program which can operate over the Internet. The intermediary computer program mediates offers and counter-offers for financial commodities. Goals, expressed as either a set of computer rules or as an objective with constraints, are set by the participants and the electronic agent computer program generates counter-offers according to the goals in response to offers from the intermediary computer program. In one embodiment of the system, a calculated “fairness measure” is used to determine satisfaction of the participants goals.
None of these patents address a bartering, exchanging or selling system whereby an individual trader constructs a barter order by establishing trading parameters that include an item to be bartered and a desired item to be received. Additionally, since each of the prior art systems are tailored to a particular market or type of security, they are extremely limited. These systems do not permit flexibility in trading one type of security for another type, or even one type of security for real property.